Australian Writer Writes From China Jail
Australian Writer Writes From China Jail. Australia describes Yang’s letter as ‘ message of profound courage, resilience and hope’’.
Australian democracy activist Yang Hengjun wrote a letter with emotions to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, thanking him for his “grave concerns” about his deteriorating health in a Chinese prison.
Yang, who was detained in 2019 at an airport in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, received a suspended death sentence in February 2024, at the end of a closed-door trial at a Chinese court on charges of espionage that he had refused.
Well-wishers and family members have expressed worry about the deteriorating health of Yang in the prison cell where he has been ill-treated. His friends are afraid that he will die while he is imprisoned.
Composing the words from No.2 Prison in Beijing, Yang said a word to the Australian prime minister that “words are failing me and tears blur my vision” while speaking about his “untold and unbearable suffering” at the prison.
“Dear PM Albanese words are now failing me, Tears blur my vision. I can only deploy a silent voice to thank you and every person that takes care of me and loves me,” he wrote.
I feel your entire support at my side as I stumble through the most difficult and darkest page of my life, enabling me to drown in the warmth of humanity.
It has assisted me in understanding the importance of words and deeds of a government of the people, by the people, for the people, to enable me to understand completely what being an Australian citizen means.
Yang wrote the letter on 9 January to the Australian prime minister on his so-called sixth anniversary of his incarceration in a Chinese jail.
Mr Albanese confirmed in fact Yang wrote to him when he was on his diplomatic visit to Indonesia, one day after he was sworn in office for a second term on Tuesday following his 3 May winning, after his election victory.
Canberra hopes that Yang is “home in Australia, reunited with his family”, foreign minister Penny Wong said in reply to the missive.
“The prime minister and I were deeply touched by Dr Yang’s letter – a message of profound courage, resilience, and hope despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances”, she said in the statement.
“Dr Yang writes of his great love for his country – and we want to see him home in Australia, reunited with his family,” Ms Wong added.
We maintain persistent representations for the interests and well-being of Dr Yang at every available opportunity and on the highest level, including, but not limited to, the provision of appropriate medical care. Our thoughts remain with Dr Yang and his loved ones.
A suspended death penalty in China gives the condemned two years to stay out of jail and go free before getting automatically transformed into life imprisonment or, more rarely, a fixed period.
The sentence, issued three years after his closed-door trial on the espionage charges, horrified his family, both of his sons who live in Australia, and his supporters.
His sentence has been described by the Australian government as “harrowing” and “appalling”, and successive prime ministers have lobbied for his release. Questions have been asked about the health status of the 58-year-old in prison after it emerged he has a large cyst on one of his kidneys.
Yang’s friend, fellow Chinese academics residing in Sydney, Feng Chongyi, said earlier that “Yang is a sick man in prison who has suffered from a heart condition, liver condition, especially his kidney condition, and other health conditions as well,” according to ABC News by Louise Yaxley.
In his letter, Yang recalled Australia for its values and declared his love for china that is his motherland, declaring that he does not regret a single word he had written for the reform policies supporting the Chinese government.
“All this makes appear in higher relief than ever before the fact that Australia is not only the land of blue sky and beautiful beaches, vast lands and endless oceans. It is also described by the strong faith, common values, nd far-visioned future based on facts and virtue”, he wrote.
“As a young and humble country, we have vigorously adopted multiculturalism”.
Yang, an Australian of the Chinese origin, was also a pro-democracy blogger. He was a worker in China’s Ministry of State Security between 1989-1999 and was charged of spying for a country that China has not acknowledged in a case whose details have not seen the daylight.
Before his detention, the high-profile blogger Yang wrote about Chinese and US politics and a series of spy novels as well.
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